Youngsters have a say on council’s youth club plans

SCORES of youngsters have had a say on radical plans to axe Derbyshire youth clubs.

The teenagers spoke out about the controversial proposals during a meeting at the Donut youth club in Chesterfield on Saturday.

Derbyshire County Council is proposing to shut 29 youth clubs in the area, leaving up to 157 support workers jobless.

The Tory-led council – which needs to save £100m over the next four years – is planning on giving grants to voluntary and community groups so they can offer activities for youngsters instead.

At the meeting, some youngsters said they were concerned about losing valuable relationships with current youth workers.

Another teenager voiced fears over volunteers pulling out of delivering activities without warning.

Chris Campbell, integrated youth support manager at Derbyshire County Council, said: “It was really important to us to hear young people’s views.”

A ten-week consultation – which attracted more than 3,000 comments about the plans – finished on Sunday. The council will hold a debate on the proposals next month after it emerged 10,000 people signed a petition calling on the authority to retain the current directly-provided youth service. Cabinet members will consider a report on the plans in May.